


When A Pearl Finds A Pearl

by Toonfreak



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-04 08:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12165309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toonfreak/pseuds/Toonfreak
Summary: Pink Diamond's Pearl finds a present! (A side story to Vonsmore's: "The Identity of a Pearl" and "The Mind of a Pearl"! )





	When A Pearl Finds A Pearl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VonSmore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VonSmore/gifts).



White Diamond's Pearl (or just "White" as her more casual friends liked to call her), was being escorted to Pink Diamond's court AGAIN.

Her own mistress had instructed her to assist the newly-formed Diamond with her first colony.

From what White had seen, the court needed all the help it could get. 

Pink Diamond was unlike any other monarch she had ever seen- optimistic and bubbly (if not just a tad bit ignorant).  
Of course, her Pearl was not much better. Made in her master's splitting image, the Pink Pearl always seemed WAY too enthusiastic.

Still....  
....still...It was rather nice to have a positive atmosphere to go to, and Pink Diamond's Pearl was one of the few friends White trusted the most.

As the Gem was escorted into Pink Diamond's chambers- she was greeted with the same annoying enthusiasm she always was.  
"Oh! Good! You're here my dear! It's still so nice of my sister to loan you to me..."

"Yes...your Diamond."

"Hi ya White!" The Pink Pearl embraced her friend in the most undignified manner.  
"Oof!! Erm...good to see you too Pink" White tried to wiggle out of the unfamiliar hug as she attempted to re-catch her breath from the unannounced greeting.

The young Diamond piped up: "Now, I am going to be in and out today. We have begun scouting the Water Planet...and I need to receive the briefing of information from my Rubies." the massive Gem nodded. "I believe my Pearl has found something as a gift for all of your wonderful assistance as well..."

"-YEAH! I found it on the new Water Planet we're using for the colony! They let me walk around outside a bit during my last visit!"  
"That they did my Pearl...Stars know what the gift is though! She refuses to show it to anyone...even me!"  
"That's because it's a SURPRISE my Diamond!"  
The leader chuckled. "That it is! That it is! I'll leave you to it then!"

The two Pearls saluted as the leader left to complete her rounds- an Agate had been called in advance to assist her with the doors in Pink Pearl's absence.

As soon as the monolith had disappeared. The room's tone immediately changed. White turned a harsh look at her fellow Gem-incredibly concerned. "What's this all about Pink?? Keeping secrets from your Diamond? Why not just show her whatever filthy thing you retrieved from that primitive planet?"  
"Shhhhhhhh!! White! It's important to keep it secret! I-I found a Pearl! I found a Pearl's gemstone on the planet! It's white, and smooth, and everything!"

White's eyes became large with shock. "What the stars are you talking about?"  
"Here, it's easier to just show you..."

In a mighty flash of light, Pink yanked something from the pocket space in her gemstone.  
Sure enough, the item was hard, white, smooth, and about the same size as a Pearl!

Pink carefully handed the mysterious object over to White. The Pearl took the odd thing, and tapped it carefully in inspection.

"Well? What do you think? I found it among some green organic matter on the planet's surface..."  
White continued to tap the object curiously...it sounded hollow, but it was definitely NOT a Pearl.  
"It seems to be some sort of easily breakable rock...not a sentient gemstone though. It's hollow." White was bit baffled as she glanced at the thing. "It could be a new mineral. It might have a significant use somewhere in Gem production." White attempted to hand back the object- "It would probably be the most beneficial to a Peridot..."

Pink shook her head. "You keep it White! It's a gift remember?"

"Oh! Yes...right! Thank you Pink!" The Pearl attempted a smile- not quite sure what to do with the odd thing.  
"You're welcome!!!" Pink seemed proud of herself, and quite oblivious to White's confusion...

\----------------

The two Pearls began to discuss more pressing matters- with innocent banter sewn in between. White decided to place the strange gift on the table next to the blueprints they were discussing. If she was lucky, perhaps Pink Diamond would see it before she was returned to her own mistress. A grand leader would be able to find a more significant use for the thing than she ever could. To the Pearl, it was just a kindly paper weight that would take up pocket space. 

Besides, White Diamond would probably hear about the gift from her sister, and force her to give up the object anyway...

"Did you see THAT?"  
"See what?" White's train of thought was bluntly interrupted by Pink's outburst. It seemed her mind had wondered again.  
"That! That! The....NOT Pearl!" Pink pointed toward the rock on the desk rapidly. "It-it MOVED!!!"

"Is your form fluctuating?!? It did not move! I didn't see anything..."  
"THERE! THERE! IT HAPPENED AGAIN!"  
"Stop shouting. I'm sure it's fine. You probably just shifted the table or...something..."  
"Just-LOOK at it! Here-". Pink stood far away from the table to prove a point. "Keep looking!" She shouted from across the room.

White rolled her eyes with sarcasm, before humoring her friend and looking at the moronic, inanimate object.  
...  
.......  
.............  
...................IT MOVED!!!

"OH MY STARS!!" White gasped, and jumped in startlement, as she tumbled over herself to join her friend on the other side of the chamber.

"I tooooooold you! It moved!"

"Shale!! What on Homeworld is that thing?!?" White was attempting to collect her nerves.

\----------------

A good few hours passed before either of the Pearls were brave enough to approach the table again.

Pink was the first to return- her curiosity getting the best of her. To the servant's surprise, the rock seemed to be breaking...from the inside!  
"White! Look at this! It's weird!"  
"I'm not going anywhere NEAR that thing! You can't make me!"

Taking this statement more as a challenge than a command, Pink reproached her friend, and tugged her along to the opposite side of the room.  
As White was forced to stare at the thing, Pink made the obvious clear: "See! It's breaking! All on its own!"

"So it seems..." White just wanted to retreat away from the thing as fast as possible.

"Squeak!"

The two Pearls jumped in unison as the rock emitted a noise!

"Squeak! Peep-WAK!"

The duo retreated to the other side of the room again in a hurry. White hoped Pink hadn't unintentionally let an incredibly small Xenomorph on board.

The animal sounds and cracking noises on the opposite side of the room increased until the creature finally freed itself from the spherical prison.

In a state of panic, White suddenly realized that Pink Diamond's blueprints had been left out on the table with the....whatever that thing was. As much as she feared the mysterious critter- she feared her own Diamond punishing her for ruining important documents even more...

 

When nothing attempted to attack, she decided to quickly approach the table. If nothing else, she could salvage whatever important papers were still there in the chaos' wake.

White snuck toward the table cautiously- Pink watching the spectacle in absolute horror.

The creature was incredibly small...no bigger than her own hand. It seemed to be covered in fluff, soaked in an unknown substance, and was a slightly yellow-pinkish color.

Despite her best efforts to be discreet, the rustling of the documents caught the creature's attention. The animal made a pathetic attempt to stand up, and hobble toward the source of the noise....peeping and making quite a din the entire way.

White retreated back to her friend in a hurry...  
However, the damage was already done.  
Now that the creature knew it was not alone, it was making more of a fuss than ever!

Pink seemed (understandably) concerned. "Well...now what do we do?"  
"All these blueprints are fine- the organic didn't get close enough to ruin them..."  
"No, I mean...yeah...that's great and all...but what do we do about the weird thing on the table?"

White hadn't thought that far ahead yet. Surely, she would be punished by both Diamonds if they found out an organic life form had been snuck onto the station?

\----------------

"Peep! Peep! Peep!" 

As the hours grew more dismal, the small creature had dried significantly.

It was wattling about the table, now able to walk- and was much more fluffy and appealing to look at.

The idiotic creature kept walking in circles. Every time it reached an edge, it would look down in distress, peep in aggravation, and wattle to another edge on the opposite side.

As much as White hated to admit it, Pink Diamond would probably be back any minute now, and bare witness to this weird moving fluff.  
"Pink, we've got to do something! We can't just leave it on the table like that..."  
"Well, what do you propose we do? We still don't know how dangerous it is!"  
"Hmm...if only we had some way to contain it...."  
"-what about this?" Pink pulled off one of her shoes, and quickly regenerated a new one.  
"It won't fit in there!"  
"Do you have a better idea?"

She...didn't. She really didn't. Stars! White decided to rebuttal-  
"...and who do you propose is going to capture it?!?"  
"It's YOUR present..."  
"Yeah....but YOU brought it in here!"  
"I didn't know it was organic life! I'm still a new Pearl! You have more experience...YOU catch it!"  
"Shouldn't you learn from your own mistakes than...to gain the experience I already have?!"

"QUACK!!!"  
"WOMP!"

The duo turned toward the creature as an odd sound rang out.

Apparently, the Earth animal had discovered one of the table's chairs and made a risky jump. 

The move paid off.

Not only was the animal built for small jumps, but it had also found an efficient way to get off the table quickly.

"WAK!!"

In a burst of excitement, the small creature quickly found its way to the floor, and wattled towards the two Pearls- tripping and tumbling over it's own flat feet.

"OH MY STARS!"

The duo scattered quickly- and ran for their lives! Even though the creature was small- it could still be venomous...

Despite the two Gems running in the opposite direction, the small animal seemed to be following White like a Robonoid.

"WHY IS IT ONLY FOLLOWING ME?!?"  
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!? IT IS YOUR PRESENT AFTER ALL!!"  
"THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING!!!"  
"MAYBE IT ONLY ATTACKS ONE CREATURE AT A TIME?!?"  
"YOU'RE NOT HELPING PINK!!"

White saw the table as she circled around the room again. With an expert amount of grace, she bounded on top of it, and prayed to the Diamonds that this thing was not as good at jumping UP as it was jumping DOWN....

The swift movement payed off.

The small creature peeped in distress as it looked up at White on top of the table. It was attempting small pathetic jumps while it's fluffy wings flailed every-which-way...

"Thank the Stars. It can't get back up."

Pink took advantage of the duckling's distraction, and joined White on top of the table.

"I feel so silly and pathetic- hiding up here from this weird little organic..."  
"Yeah...same. But I rather not risk getting hurt- who knows what it's capable of?"

\----------------

Another two hours had passed.

The creature had long exhausted itself. It was currently asleep right below the edge of the table- quite fluffed up with it's beak tucked into its down.

The Pearls were still on the table up above- Pink Diamond hadn't returned.

"This is...really uncomfortable." Pink complained.  
"Yes, I know Pink, but sooner or later someone is bound to come in here and save us from this- erm- gift?"

Pink sighed in a huff. So her present wasn't a new Pearl friend- at least this entire fiasco would give the duo an amusing tale when they came across Yellow and Blue again. She was sure Yellow would get a kick out of it at least.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" There was a massive knock on the door, followed by a very small: "H-hello?"

"Stars! Someone is here! Help! Help! Please open the door!!!" White was frantic.

"M-my Diamond? Is this where the meeting is being held? I'm sorry I'm so late....I got lost...." a small Ruby soldier entered the room slowly. She was carrying a barrage of different odds and ends- pictures, reports, posters, graphs....

The small scout did not find Pink Diamond, nor the board meeting...but did bore witness to two incredibly stressed looking Pearls hiding from a duckling on top of a table.

"What the-?!? This isn't the board meeting!"  
"Wait...are you one of the Rubies that was a part of the Water Planet scout mission?"  
"Yeah! I'm the presenter for the meeting!"  
"You mean, the meeting hasn't even STARTED yet?!?"  
The Ruby shrugged. "Idontknow...what's that dumpling doing in here?"  
"Eh? Dumpling?"

The Ruby proceeded to point at the weird creature on the floor.

White came to a realization! "Wait...you know what this...THING is!?!"

"Well sure! I am a scout, after all! The dominant species calls that one a dumpling! See?" The Ruby attempted to find a particular poster in her mess of supplies. She ended up dropping most of it in her own tussle. "See? This is a bigger one!"  
The little red Gem displayed a poster of a fully grown duck with a green head. She continued: "That one below you is still small! He doesn't have no green on him yet!"

"Is it dangerous?"  
"Huh?"  
"Is this...THING- the dumpling, dangerous?!?"  
The Ruby scratched her head. "Idontthinkso....they have hard spikes on the tips of their gravity connectors- but they don't normally hurt anyone- especially little ones like that...."

The duckling opened it's eyes slightly at the extra conversation. At the sight of a new someone- the bird peeped in excitement, and hobbled over to the Ruby who picked it up gleefully. The duckling fell asleep again quickly with the addition of the Ruby's heated hands.  
"This is great! A live specimen is a MUCH better visual than these dumb posters!" The Ruby kicked the fallen supplies in retaliation. "Thanks for the alternative! I hope Pink Diamond isn't too mad for me getting lost..."

As the Ruby began to saunter back out the door, White decided to inquire- just for curiosity sake-  
"WAIT! What will happen to the organic after the meeting?"

The Ruby thought for a second...  
"Oh! I could just take him back to the planet during my next scouting mission! They are easy to take care of, and can survive on lots o different things! They like to swim too!"

...and with that, the Ruby waved goodbye. 

The two Pearls were left with a pile of posters, a dirtied table, and floor scuffs that required cleaning.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to wish a grand Happy Birthday to my good friend (and fellow writer) VonSmore!
> 
> White and Pink are Pearls featured in her two stories: "The Identity of a Pearl" and "The Mind of a Pearl"!
> 
> (Both are super good reads too! I would highly recommend them!)
> 
> Anyway- Vonsmore's favorite animals are ducks! (Specifically, baby ducklings!)
> 
> Thus, this story was born!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed it!


End file.
